Friday, February 25, 2011

Worth watching

Yon Chantha in a horizontal pose at tonight's Meta House show

I'm really looking forward to 18 and 19 March when three weeks of practice will come to fruition with two nights of contemporary dance at Meta House starring Sam Sathya and Yon Chantha under the supervision of facilitator Bob Ruijzendaal. Sathya is the country's best known and most graceful classical dance performer of her generation and has been at the top of her game in the rarefied world of royal ballet for two decades. Chantha, who danced again this evening at Meta House with her sister Davy and Rady in the 2nd of the People in Buildings sessions, is without doubt one of the up and coming stars of the country's fledgling contemporary dance scene, and the combination could well be very special. We shall see. In the meantime, tonight and again tomorrow night (at 7pm), Ruijzendaal encourages the three young dancers to express themselves adding their own flair to everyday movements from sweeping the floor to a child's skipping rope routine. The practice of the past three weeks is much in evidence with split-second timing between the three performers as they made full use of the relatively small space on the ground floor at Meta House. And they had fun doing it too, which is an important factor if they are to maintain their own crusade in bringing this newfangled dance format to a Khmer and foreign audience. I must admit I have a weakness for Chantha's facial expressions and unbridled energy in her performances, whilst her elder sister Davy is more controlled and exact and Rady, fluid in movement and definitely growing in stature amongst the country's male dancers. The audience numbers were down on their previous performance three weeks before, but that can be explained by the same time, same night Dansez Roam! show at Chenla Theatre, which I will go and see tomorrow. I'm pretty sure the three dancers will be performing again on Sunday night, in solo sessions rather than as a trio, when they take part in the La rue danse at Koh Pich island, an annual event with mini performances taking place from 7pm on the night.